Frozen Mask
by Aurawings
Summary: After the Black Knights raided a Britannian factory in Siberia, a large explosion stranded some of the guys. What will Zero, Ohgi, Tamaki, Tohdoh, and Diethard do?  This takes place in R1.
1. Chapter 1: The Raid

**AN: Hello. I have no idea how I got this idea. Other than the fact that I love Code Geass and I like writing more in R1. Eh, I liked it better when Kallen didn't know who Zero was.**

**Just to give you an idea, this takes place somewhere between Stages 19 and 20. **

**By the way, PXLight helped me write this chapter, so the awesome details are theirs.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass…blah blah…copyrights and stuff…blah… **

A frigid breeze swarmed the area as the chill of the Siberian night managed to get to even the most prepared men and women. Dusk had passed hours ago and was now long gone, yet every single one of _them_ remained. Everyone was tense and charged, vigilantly watching the area around each of their individual vantage points around their one target; a weapons factory within the boundaries of Siberia.

This task was the first of many missions outside of Area 11 that their leader, Zero, had intended on executing. About a couple of months ago, Deithard had managed to uncover several weapon hotspots that could serve as an advantage in the Black Knight's fight against the Holy Britannian Empire. After informing Zero of their locations and perfect opportunities to storm in and take these locations for their own, the masked revolutionary did not hesitate to set up a mission plan.

And so this is how many of the Black Knights found themselves surrounding a single large weapons factory in the middle of Siberian wilderness within the thick of night.

Kaname Ohgi, one of Zero's most trusted subordinates, eagerly waited in the cockpit of his Knightmare, a captured Sutherland that had been remodelled, repainted, and maintained ever since first obtaining it back in Shinjuku. He shivered slightly and watched the wispy white clouds of water vapour escape with his breath. There was some form of heating in the cockpit, but there was almost no insulation whatsoever. He was forced to rely on the thick warm leather jacket that went over his traditional Black Knights uniform, as well as his lucky beige sweater and other layers underneath.

The face of Kallen Kouzuki, the ace of the Black Knights as well as the pilot of the red Guren, suddenly popped up on the screen, contacting Ohgi either due to sheer boredom or in the middle of passing Ohgi as well as the others in the area a message. Ohgi flicked a switch in order to accept the call and enter the channel in order to communicate with the half-Japanese red-head.

"What do you need, Kallen?" Ohgi asked swiftly before his chattering teeth took a hold of him. His vocals chords were stiff and his voice came out rather coarsely. He did not care how pathetic he looked as he hid his hands within the recesses of his jacket's sleeves and shivered. Frankly, he did not want to look as though the bitter weather was getting to him, but he couldn't help it; Siberian climate was much more intense than anything he had ever experienced back in Area 11.

"Nothing really..." Kallen muttered, shoving her hands in her own pockets as well. Her face was pale aside from her fiery cheeks and blazing cerulean eyes. "I... accidentally hit the com switch. I didn't mean to call you, Ohgi. Sorry about that."

She was just about to end the call when Ohgi stuttered out, "No wait, Kallen!" When Kallen tensed up and looked at Ohgi through the screen strangely, Ohgi relaxed as Kallen retracted her finger and shoved her hand into the depths of her warm, insulated pockets once more. "I... Have you heard anything from Zero?" Ohgi had wanted to tell her that he was slightly lost and needed a conversation with anyone right now to try and distract himself from the frigid conditions, but he stopped himself before it came out.

Kallen shook her head dejectedly. "I'm sorry, Ohgi." she replied solemnly. "If I heard anything from Zero, I probably wouldn't be here sitting around waiting, right? And I would have told you right off the bat anyway." She sighed as she examined the information coming in from the Guren's factspheres once more. However, the data coming in revealed nothing suspicious or anything that required Kallen's immediate attention, so she shrugged before turning back to Ohgi who had just done the same thing. "He said that he would have contacted us hours ago, but I asked everyone on the mission thirty minutes ago and they all said that Zero failed to contact any of us."

"It's not like him to leave us hanging!" The face of Tamaki Shinichiro suddenly popped up on the screens of Ohgi and Kallen. They had forgotten that the two of them were talking on an open channel that was accessible to all members of the Black Knights; they were surprised by the sudden remark. "I mean, we should have been mobilized ages ago!" He suddenly looked around as though he were watched and leaned in closer to the screen as he whispered, "Maybe something happened to my best bud..."

"There's no way!" Ohgi protested a bit too loudly and nearly bit his tongue in regret. However, his message still got across leaving a bemused Kallen and an exhilarated Tamaki grinning widely.

"That's the spirit, Ohgi!" Tamaki cheered, laughing boldly. "No one can harm Zero! He's probably out buying us all burgers for the victory party after this, right?"

"Where do you think he would buy burgers in the Siberian wilderness anyway?" Kallen countered, a snarky look smothered all over her face. Her look frustrated Tamaki as the silent insult clearly did its job well.

"Well, then he's probably out buying buffalo... wings—I don't know!" An infuriated Tamaki leaned into the screen as though shoving his face into Kallen's. "If you're _so_ smart, Kallen, then what do _YOU_ think happened to the guy?"

As though on cue, a _sound only_ message popped up in the middle of the com session that ended up attracting the attention of all Black Knight members. Only the Black Knights had access to this channel and there is only one person amongst all of the recruits that would use the _sound only_ option; the one person who finds it mandatory to hide his face from the rest of the world.

Zero.

Along with the notification of an incoming message was the appearance of a small flashing light located within the warehouse they had all intended to infiltrate tonight in order to complete the mission; a beacon declaring the position of their target. How Zero managed to get the beacon in and make it back to his custom Knightmare, the Gawain, no one knew. However, they failed to question it as Zero's voice came up.

"_You are all aware of the objective of tonight's mission. Infiltrate the factory, capture the workers there for interrogation and briefing, and obtain all weapons here for stock. Return to the meeting point ten miles away from here. I have placed explosives within the factory to cover our tracks from anyone who decides to investigate. No matter what, do not return when the factory explodes; it will be the indicator that the mission is terminated and everyone must return to base immediately." _

"Zero, buddy!" Tamaki called out in a friendly tone, almost as though he had not been paying attention to the mission briefing at all. "Man, what took you so long? Did you get us all some food, 'cause I'm starving!"

Everyone was aware that Zero was capable of receiving Tamaki's idiotic communications and frankly, Zero made a noise of annoyance that indicated that he did in fact receive the message. However, the mission was more important that discussing Lelouch Lamperouge's definite lacking in physical skill, so masked leader ignored Tamaki and instead called out through the intercom a single word,

"GO!"

At once, a small swarm of Burais leapt from their positions and sped towards the building, their landspinners causing mounds of snow to fly up behind them in a fury. Only a small group had been assigned Knightmares; everyone else was waiting in the trucks that were prepared to load the cargo they were to obtain as a result of their imminent success of this mission. Even with such a small group, the number was a large extra safety precaution Zero took in case anything was to go wrong. After all, they were in a Russian country outside of their normal territory; who knew what could possibly happen as a result of their presence?

The seven Burais raised their built-in guns and aimed at the structure of the factory, making sure to avoid as many casualties as they could with their mediated rain of bullets. At the fire of guns, windows smashedand shattered. Dents and cracks of the metal and brick surfaces located inside and outside of the factory were created in an instant and it did not take long for screams and cries of horror to burst out from the panicked workers inside. "_Террористы_!" they cried out in Russian tongue. "_Terrorists_!"

Zero, who was watching on a nearby hill, then yelled,"_KALLEN_, _NOW_!"

The Guren had been on standby as the Burais around it zipped around the factory causing exterior damage, panic to the workers, and a halt on production. Now with Zero's cue, the red Knightmare zoomed past the other Knightmares and smashed through the factorywall using its Radiant Wave Surger. It fired a few aimless threatening shots to the ceiling causing the frightened workers to try and run away. However, a couple of Burais had managed to sneak in from the other side and captured the group the Guren had purposely repelled.

The remaining Knightmares followed the Guren in through the large hole in the wall, defending the red Knightmare as well as the other Black Knights who were only now exiting the loading trucks from the attack attempts from a few of the braver employees of this factory. These employees grabbed weapons right off the production line and were now using them against the Black Knights. Regrettably, because of their unruly resistance instead of the attack inducing immediate surrender, the Burais were forced to shoot them down, though tried to avoid shooting them fatally. Five of the Siberian men were killed as well as one Black Knight in a Burai who had incidentally been shot with an armour piercing missile one of the men managed to fire.

The Black Knights who had been hiding out in the trucks burst into the hole with their guns at ready. They were forced to conduct this mission on foot. They, while being evidentially guarded by Ohgi and his Sutherland, each grabbed as much equipment as they could and carried it to a truckoutside. Two other Knightmares went to hold the remaining workers who called for surrender hostage. Kallen, as well as the remaining Knightmares, finally went over to where Zero had snuck in the beacon to retrieve the large WMD hidden in the recesses of the factory while also assisting in the gathering of the other weapons as well.

It took about an hour for most of the weapons manufactured in the factory to be safely loaded within the trucks. As soon as the final pieces were finally in place and the trucks as well as the rest of Zero's men were able to head out to the meeting place ten miles away, Zero ordered the retreat of all Black Knights, declaring that they were all to leave the factory and meet up at the set location. He himself was to be left behind in order to erase the memories of the surviving Siberian workers and let them go safely and without harm as well as blow up the factory.

The retreat of the cargo came first. The Guren escorted the many trucks towards the meeting place, leaving the group of Burais as well as Zero in the factory. Zero instructed that a few of the Knightmares were to do a thorough inspection on the exterior surroundings in case anyone managed to escape. The remainder of the Knightmares were to stand guard by the hole in the wall, leaving Zero alone with the Siberian workers.

As soon as the Black Knights did just that, Zero's Knightmare's cockpit hatch opened to reveal the masked terrorist himself. The rebel leader then clambered onto a small cable that helped him down the height of his Knightmare. The brave Siberian workers chattered to themselves in Russian, every single one of them gazing in awe as Zero pressed his fingers against the plates of his helmet and pulled it off, revealing the perfect face of Lelouch Lamperouge.

Perfect, except for the stain of Geass in his one eye.

"Now..." he started, transitioning into Russian flawlessly. He was still unsure if a language barrier would affect the potency of his commands, though if he had the opportunity to avoid trying it out now, then he would take it. "Lelouch vi Britannia orders all of you... You will all forget everything that happened here tonight; you will forget ever working today in this factory, you will forget the Black Knights' raid, and most importantly, you will forget my identity. You will now go home and simply forget that all this ever happened."

A tug in his eye was felt as every single worker, who had all coincidentally been gazing into his eyes the moment the command had been declared, relaxed their stiff bodies as though entering a world of bliss that somehow came with the loss of memory. Lelouch smiled with grim satisfaction as his Geass did its work, the red rim rolling around each of the workers' irises. Content with his work, he placed the helmet back on his head and got back into his Knightmare in order to allow the workers to get out of this place before the Geass wore off.

Once inside, he shifted his cloak before contacting the Burais who had remained with him. He flipped on the com switch and after a few seconds, an indicator revealed that he now had direct contact with every single one of them. "The mission has been a success." Zero declared. "The rest of you, now proceed to the meeting point at the set location. We will now be returning to Area 11 and take stock of our new materials there."

A few of them felt the need to respond with, "hai". The Burais who had been checking to make sure that no one escaped headed out first. Fortunately for all of them, no one managed to escape, so Zero's job was made easier. The remaining Knightmares who had been guarding the opening Kallen's Guren made earlier waited for Zero and his Gawain to make it over so they could escape together.

The mission was on the verge of being called a complete success when it happened.  
>Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, camea huge explosion.<p>

Every single Knightmare that had still been in the factory had been caught in that blast.  
>Including the one Zero was in.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: Siberia

Ohgi awoke, dazed. His vision was bleary. And why was it so cold? Suddenly it all came back to him and he opened his eyes. He saw the remains of about six or seven knighmares scattered about the snow. There were a few dead bodies and-

"ZERO!" Ohgi ran over to the masked man who was lying face down in the snow. He ran over and touched the other's neck. A soft pulsing could be felt.

Sighing in relief, Ohgi grabbed Zero's arm and pulled him up. Even though Ohgi couldn't see his face, he seemed to be unconscious. Not only that, but it looked as though Zero was shivering violently. It was then that Ohgi noticed that it was the same outfit that Zero always wore. It was defiantly **not** designed for Siberia.

_I need to get him to the meeting point, now._ Ohgi swung Zero's arm around his own shoulder and stood up. It was hard to walk; especially with the bulky winter uniform. But then again, he was grateful not to be in the same situation as Zero.

"HEY! OHGI!"

He turned in response to hearing his name being called. Tamaki was franticly running toward him, arms waving.

Tamaki stopped in front of him, panting. "Hey," he said again, "do you know what happened?"

Ohgi shook his head. "No. But what about the others?"

"It looks like Kallen got away, along with the truck." He turned to look at his leader leaning against Ohgi's shoulder. "What happened to my buddy?" He asked, poking Zero's arm.

"He's alive, but unconscious. We need to get him back to base right away."

They both walked through the snow in silence. Eventually, Tamaki tried to start a conversation, but failed. The wind started to pick up, and Zero shivered harder than ever.

"This is no good," Ohgi said in defeat. "He'll get frostbite or something by the time we get back to base."

"Oh yeah! Maybe we should stop or something. Like, I dunno, find a cave or something and start a fire."

For once, Tamaki actually had a good idea. Ohgi desperately scanned around them in search of such a place. But all he could find was ice, ice, and more ice. Grunting in frustration, he eventually spotted a dark spot amidst all the whitish-gray. He and Tamaki slowly trudged over to it, to confirm that it was, indeed, a small cave.

Ohgi put Zero down in a corner, who was now shivering just a little less. "Too bad we don't have anything to start a fire," Tamaki said quietly.

Outside, it was now a full-blown blizzard. But in the cave, it was nice and dry. Tamaki had started to peacefully snore against the cave wall. That left Ohgi to sit and wait. Wait for what? He didn't know. Maybe a rescue? Surely Kallen would come to search for Zero.

All of a sudden, Zero stirred. Ohgi's eyes snapped towards his direction. He stirred again and sat up slowly. "Ohgi," he managed to whisper.

"An explosion caught us and destroyed our knightmares. Most of the others, including Kallen and the truck, got away though. I found you lying unconscious in the snow," Ohgi explained.

"Okay," Zero responded drowsily. He shivered again, quickly wrapping his cape around himself.

Ohgi started to take off his warm coat.

"No," said Zero. "I'll be fine."

Slightly uncertain, Ohgi slipped his coat back on.

After a while, it appeared as though Zero had fallen asleep. He leaned his head (er…mask) against the cave wall. His chest silently moved up and down, accompanied by the occasional shiver. Ohgi could actually hear his leader mumble some words in his sleep.

"…Kallen…C…C…." he took a long breath, "S-Suza…ku…...Nunnally…N-Nunnally…Nun…na…lly…"

Who was Nunnaly? The name sounded Britannian to Ohgi. It made sense he would dream about two girls that seemed _very _close to him, along with one of their greatest enemies. But why some random Britannian girl? Could it be someone in Zero's personal life?

Ohgi had never given much thought about what their leader did when he wasn't with the Black Knights. Of course, now that he thought about it, it's not like he was Zero **all** the time, right? It only made him more curious as to his identity.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

Ohgi quickly looked towards the cave entrance. There were two figures standing outside. "Oh! Yes! Who is it?" he quickly asked.

Tohdoh and Diethard stepped through the cave entrance. Ohgi sighed in relief. "That's good. You're alive. I was starting to wonder."

Diethard nodded. "Us too." He scanned the cave. "Looks like Tamaki's alive," he said almost disappointedly.

Tohdoh's eyes widened. "What happened to Zero?"

"He's alright, for now," Ohgi responded. "He's asleep. But…"

"But what?" the other two asked impatiently.

"But we need to get him back to base as soon as possible. At this rate he could get hypothermia."

Diethard and Tohdoh stared solemnly.

"What have you guys been up to?" Ohgi asked.

"I found Diethard a little outside the wreckage. We were on our way to the meeting point when it started to blizzard. That's when we decided to find a place like this."

Tamaki yawned, stood up and stretched. "Hey, Ohgi. What I miss?" He looked towards the cave entrance. "Hi guys!" he said excitedly.

This was going to be long night.


	3. Chapter 3: Passing Time

**AN: Ugh, curse you hiatuses! I apologize for the lack of updates… but yeah. Anyway, chapter 3!**

The four of them were all sitting around in a circle. Outside, the blizzard was still going strong. None of them were particularly cold because they all had a coat. Ohgi gave a worried glance to Zero, who was still sleeping in the corner. He coughed a few times under his mask.

"I hope he's not getting sick…"Ohgi stated his concern.

Tohdoh nodded. "That could interfere with all of our battle plans."

Tamaki laughed. "Yeah, imagine if he puked in his mask!"

Diethard shuddered. "Thank you for that wonderful visual, Tamaki."

"Heh-heh."

Tamaki looked at Zero slyly. "Maybe we should take off his mask. You know, so he can breathe easier? I want my buddy to be comfortable after all."

Tohdoh shook his head. "No. We don't want to expose his face to the cold. Most of your body heat is lost through your head."

"It was just an idea…" Tamaki pouted.

Ohgi looked at Zero seriously. "Maybe… we should-"

Just then Zero stirred. He slowly sat up, shivering, and turned to Ohgi. "W-We should get to th-the meeting point."

Ohgi's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Trust me, Zero. I think so too. But the thing is…" he looked outside, "with the blizzard going on we have no way of telling what direction it is. We could get lost, and, um, freeze to death."

Zero didn't say anything back.

"I just remembered!" Diethard suddenly said.

"WHAT?" the others all asked in unison.

Diethard fumbled through his coat pocket. He took out a long, sleek lighter.

"That's great," Tamaki said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Now what are we gonna light?"

Tohdoh narrowed his eyes. "I think…"he began. He then started a search in his own coat pocket. Eventually, he pulled out a small book. "Will this burn?"

Ohgi nodded. "I think so." He took the book from Tohdoh. He suddenly snorted and tried to keep a straight face. "U-Um, pfft, Tohdoh? W-Why are you… reading this? Hahahah!" He started to laugh uncontrollably.

Diethard and Tamaki leaned over to look. After blinking a few times, they both burst out laughing too. Tohdoh was looking away, obviously embarrassed.

"What is it?" Zero asked slowly.

Trying to stifle his laughter, Ohgi showed the cover to Zero. A little out of character for him, Zero also started to laugh. It wasn't the evil, maniacal (and in Ohgi's opinion mentally unstable) laugh he had heard before. This one seemed to be honest and friendly.

Tohdoh growled in embarrassment.

"Seriously dude," Tamaki wiped a tear out of his eye, "why'd you have this with you?"

Tohdoh didn't answer. Instead, Ohgi put the book down on the driest part of the cave floor. Diethard handed him the lighter. Still laughing, they lit the book. As they watched the book burn, they finally started to recover from their laughter.

After scrounging a few dry logs from the cave, they managed to get a small fire started. Zero took off his gloves and held his hands next to the flames along with the others.

"Anyway," Diethard said a bit impatiently to Zero, "why didn't you get winter clothes for yourself? If you could get them for all of us, shouldn't it have been easy to get the Zero outfit as snowgear or something?"

"I d-didn't want such little inconveniences to g-get in the way. As a s-symbol for J-Japan, I had to r-represent the st-strength of the B-Black Knights." That was a total lie. In reality, Lelouch was planning to get the warmer Zero costume. But the guy he'd geassed before to make the original was out of town. He couldn't sneak off campus because Milly had dragged him to some party.

The fact that he gave such a Zero-like answer made the others believe him, even if they weren't used to seeing him so weak.

They sat there in silence for a while. Eventually, the fire went out. "Great…" Diethard muttered.

Ohgi looked to the cave entrance. The blizzard had slowed down just a little. "Maybe we should go back now? What do you think, Zero?"

No answer came.

"Zero?" Ohgi looked at his leader, who was breathing very heavily. Frightened, Ohgi reached out and grabbed the other's arm.

To his shock and somewhat horror, the arm was hot, much warmer than it should have been.


	4. Chapter 4: Caretaking?

**AN: I wish I could say that the length of this chapter made up for how long it took. Unfortunately, I cannot. Grah! It's so short!**

**Thank you thank you thank you so much to everyone who alerted, favorited, and commented this! I love you all, random people of the internet!**

**Disclaimer: Heh, ya know what's funny? I'm writing **_**fanfiction **_**and –you'll never guess this- I'm merely a **_**fan **_**of Code Geass. I know. Pretty amazing, right?**

Ohgi gasped and repealed his arm quickly. "He's got a fever!" he said in a panic.

The others' eyes all grew wide. Tamaki jumped up. "No! My buddy can't be sick! I was only joking earlier! I promise!"

Diethard rolled his eyes, then crawled over to join Ohgi. "What are we going to do?" he asked him.

"I don't know if there _is _anything we can do," he answered honestly. "I mean… we can't take off his mask. And even if we could it's not like we have anything cold…to…" Ohgi's eyes snapped to the front of the cave, where a pile of snow was laying.

After nodding to each other, Ohgi and Diethard both got up and went to the front of the cave. They scooped up piles of snow and carried it over to where Zero was still sitting.

Tohdoh sighed and said under his breath, "First we worry that his temperature would get to low, and now it's too high."

"Zero," said Ohgi, shifting the snow in his arms, "could you lie down against the cave wall?"

Lelouch wasn't really focusing as to what was going on, only that he felt like total hell and someone was telling him to lie down. Deciding there wasn't anything else he could do, he obliged.

The two Black Knights laid the snow on Zero's body. Almost immediately it started to melt into his costume.

Tohdoh stood up. "What we really need is some way to cool down his face. Right now all the heat from his fever is trapped in his mask."

"I've got an idea!" Tamaki announced. There was a beat of silence, then Tohdoh rolled his eyes again, Diethard groaned, and Ohgi sighed. "Hey! It's a good idea! Okay, so we'll bring him over to the snow, take his mask off- but we won't look, obviously- shove his face in a big pile of it, then put his mask back on before we even have the chance to look!"

Once again, silence filled the air. "Tamaki, that is a completely stupid idea," Tohdoh said flatly.

"…But we're still gonna do it, right?"

And so, they each grabbed onto a part of Zero and carried him over to the mouth of the cave. Meanwhile, Lelouch was slowly drifting off to sleep again. The four Black Knights set their leader down right next to a large pile of the cold white flakes. For a while, no one made any movement. They kept looking at each other, as if hoping for someone else to move first.

Finally, the glances were all turned towards Ohgi, who raised his eyebrows. The look that Tohdoh gave him told him that, 'Zero trusts you the most. You should take it off.'

Diethard and Tamaki (who was serious for once) both nodded.

Ohgi sighed and leaned down next to Zero, then turned him over so his face would be submerged in the snow. "Okay, close your eyes, everybody," he said, holding his breath. After checking that the others obeyed, he shut his own eyes and ripped of Zero's mask.  
>There was a split second of hesitation. Should he look- No, he wouldn't! Ohgi trusted Zero, and vice versa. But what <em>would <em>happen if he looked? Zero would most definitely be angry. Would he even go so far as to kick Ohgi out of the Black Knights?

However, this was the most golden opportunity possible. No one else was looking. Zero was sick now, anyways, so he might not even notice.

The split second was over. Keeping his eyes shut, Ohgi pushed Zero's head down into the snow.

The needles of cold is what woke Lelouch. He pulled his head out of the snow, grabbed his mask, and whirled around before the other three could even open their eyes. "WHAT WAS THAT?" he demanded furiously. The frozen water dripped down his face under the mask.

Tamaki waved his hand in the air. "Well, you had a fever, so we wanted to cool you off a little."

Lelouch had completely forgotten to act 'Zero-like'. "COOL ME OFF A LITTLE? WHY Y-" His yell was broken by a harsh fit of coughing, like sandpaper was rubbing against his throat. It went on for over a minute, leaving the four Black Knights horrified. Then Zero clutched his chest and collapsed to his knees.

Ohgi panicked and quickly reached out to grab him. However, Zero slapped his arm away. He stood up, shaking. "I-I'm alright," he managed to stutter. He gave once last painful cough and leaned back against the cave wall.

"You're obviously, not," Diethard said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Zero was shivering again. "I ap-pologize for a-all of th-this."

Ohgi shrugged, giving the other a shy smile. "It's not really your fault. And anyway we can't leave here while you're in this condition."

Zero reached up to hold his head before remembering the mask prevented him from doing so. Sighing, he looked up to the others. "N-no. We sh-should head b-back as s-soon as…" Then he fainted.

Tohdoh was the one who caught him. He moved quickly and managed to grab Zero before his cape hit the ground.

Ohgi sighed once again. God, how long would they be stuck in this place?


	5. Chapter 5: Interesting Information

**AN: Happy new year! And belated holidays! It's been bothering me all vacation so I had to get this up…Anyway…Here you go!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass, or Lelouch specifically, or a unicorn, or a million dollars. No matter how much I want to…**

"…Zero…Zero!...ZERO!"

Lelouch awoke. He was lying on something uncomfortable and cold. He felt strange. His head was fuzzy, and warm. When he saw through the mask Ohgi standing over him, he remembered why he was unconscious in the first place. "…How l-long has it b-been s-since I f-fainted?" he asked weakly; it hurt his throat to talk.

Ohgi sheepishly looked away from him. "Forty-five minutes, maybe…"

Zero quickly sprang into a sitting position. "W-what? You sh-should have w-woke me im-mmediately! Why d-did you w-wait until n-now?" He coughed roughly a few times.

Diethard answered, "We wanted to let you rest a little. We thought this was long enough."

Zero quietly sighed and nodded. A chill ran through him, making him shiver even harder than he already was. He grabbed his cape and once again encased himself in it. "Did a-anything h-aappen while I was unc-conscious?"

The others looked at each other. After seeing that no one else was going to say anything, Tohdoh spoke up. "We explored the cave a little bit."

Zero unsteadily waved his hand, telling him to go on.

"Well, at first we all thought it was just a natural cave. There aren't any animals here, which could be good or bad depending on the circumstances, but…it's a lot deeper than what at least I expected. Anyway, Tamaki and Ohgi stayed with you as Diethard and I went to see just how deep it was."

"We wanted to see if there were any resources or other exists," Diethard interrupted.

After giving a quick nod to him, Tohdoh continued, "There were old nests, so there at least **used **to be animals here. After about ten minutes we found a frozen stream. The ice wasn't solid enough to walk on, so we had to go around it. It was pretty dark back there, so we couldn't be sure, but…Well, Zero, it looks like this used to be a secret Britannian base."

Lelouch's eyes widened. "What?"

"There were supplies back there, however most of it's too old to use now. There was also some sort of technology they used before knightmares, and an old Britannian flag."

"W-what about a-another e-exit?" Zero asked. He was immediately responded by Diethard shaking his head.

Deciding on an impulse, Zero stood up. His legs shook, and his body racked with more shivers, but he looked seriously at the others. "We sh-should go b-back there. There m-might be-" he coughed a few times, "-some t-type of c-communication device th-that still w-works."

"No!" shouted Ohgi, who rose to face him. "You shouldn't move around until your fever breaks!"

"I'll b-be f-fine." He was too tired to lie properly, so it merely came out as a hurried uncertainty.

A hollow smirk crossed Ohgi's face. "I'm pretty sure you said that to me before you got sick," he said in an 'I-told-you-so' sort of tone.

Knowing that the others wouldn't be able to see it, Lelouch pouted. Without responding to Ohgi, he turned and started walking deeper into the cave. He heard Ohgi call out to him, followed by the sound of four pairs of footsteps.

He couldn't get that far before having to stop to steady himself. The whole cave was spinning, and Lelouch felt the sensation to pass out again. His body was freezing, which made no sense as his head was on fire. Closing his eyes, Lelouch breathed deeply and slowly. When he opened them again the world had stopped spinning, for now, and he set off once more.

The four Black Knights followed merely five feet behind him. They gave uneasy glances towards each other every time Zero would stop to lean against the wall. "I knew this was a bad idea," Ohgi whispered to them.

Tamaki shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we should just let him do what he wants," he said, a little too loudly.

Zero turned his head to look at his subordinates and gave a silent sigh. He knew they were right, that he shouldn't be pushing himself. The sense of pride he had could be a nuisance sometimes.

Roughly half an hour later, they had not made much progress. Lelouch's vision was still swimming, making everything come in and out of focus. Exhaustion was slowly taking over him. Suddenly, he slipped. Landing on his knees, he was shocked to find the ground so cold and slippery.

"ZERO!" Ohgi called out just when the ice started to crack.

Lelouch didn't even remember the next few milliseconds; just the sudden dark and unbearable frozen pain.


	6. Chapter 6: Struggles

**AN: Woo! Eleven days! That's somewhat of a record for me- yeah…I suck… **

**Sigh…Well, happy 2012 everybody. I should've watched the movie on New Year's Eve . That would've been awesome!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass, otherwise Gaiden WOULDN'T BE A STUPID SIDE STORY! (I still can't wait to see it, though.)**

The shock of falling in the water turned Lelouch's body completely numb. He couldn't move. He didn't know how to.

The Black Knights fished in the water desperately. Most of them didn't even realize how frozen their hands were getting doing so. The darkness of the cave made it impossible to see where Zero was.

Suddenly Tamaki felt something soft. "Guys I found him!" he shouted. He pulled on the soft clothy thing as the others joined him.

There was a splashy sound; the sound of something coming out of the water. It turned out they were all holding on a part of Zero's collar. Combining all their strength against the suction of the water, they yanked Zero up onto the solid ground.

Zero was shivering dangerously; his quickening heartbeat was audible to all of them, and his breathing came in short little gasps.

Ohgi yelled through gritted teeth. He brought his hand to his head in desperate thought. "Hell, what are we gonna do?"

"We need to warm him up somehow," Tohdoh said quickly.

Diethard added, "And fast."

Ohgi's eyes lit up. He pulled Zero far away from the stream and layed on top of his body.

"Ohgi…?" said Tamaki awkwardly.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" Ohgi snapped.

The other three glanced at each other. Tamaki was the first to move. He lay down on the ground and hugged Zero's left arm. Sighing, Diethard joined them. After a while, Ohgi glanced up. "Well?" he asked last person standing. The said Black Knight folded his arms and turned his head, reminiscing tsundere. "Come on, Tohdoh! If Zero dies, Japan may never be liberated! We need him!"

After giving an annoyed sigh, Tohdoh went to add his body heat to Zero also.

The next few minutes were terrifying. Zero could very well die at any second. Not wanting to think about such things, Ohgi pressed his chest tightly against Zero's.

Finally, Zero's heartbeat lowered to a normal pace, and his breathing became slow and full. "You c-can g-get off m-me n-now," Zero said suddenly. Still a little embarrassed, they got off of their leader and stood up; Ohgi was the last to do so.

Zero sat up. He was still wet and shivering. "W-we n-need to k-keep g-going," he feebly demanded. Then he coughed a few times.

Ohgi sighed. They were getting nowhere. Zero would just get up, walk, and faint again. He had to do something so they could go in a forward direction.

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling noise. They all turned to Tamaki, who was holding his stomach. "Come on, guys!" he whined. "I'm starving! Can we please find something to eat?"

Of course. None of them had had anything since before the raid. That was hours ago. However, the cave was deserted of animals, and they had nothing to start another fire with.

"There were some crates of dried food in that Britannian base," Diethard offered. "I mean there's no way to know if their expired, but…"

"Well it gives us something," Ohgi said, standing up. He glanced down to Zero, who was still looking weak and defenseless. Nodding to himself, Ohgi turned to Tohdoh. "Could you carry him?" he asked.

Tohdoh gave a return nod.

Before they could all get going, Tohdoh actually had to pick Zero up. The leader of the Black Knights protested vigorously. When lifted, he flailed around like a child trying to escape. Zero pushed against Tohdoh's shoulders, trying to get away from him.

"Th-this is r-ridiculous!" the masked terrorist yelled hoarsely.

"Come on, buddy! It'll be alright!" Tamaki laughed while giving Zero a thumbs up.

Sarcastic retorts floated around in Lelouch's head. He'd already broken character so much that he wouldn't dare use any of them. Frustrated, he stopped struggling. His legs dangled over Tohdoh's arms. He was Zero! The one who would obliterate Britannia!

But part of Lelouch's conscious knew that the sooner he obliged, the sooner he would get better. The sooner this would all be over, right?


	7. Chapter 7: Something Accomplished

**AN: Hello, everyone...You know, I really don't have that much to say in this author's note… Well then, how's life?...Uhhhuhh…..Oh, that's interesting…I'm very glad/sorry to hear that. **

**Disclaimer: The claim that I own Code Geass is like the cake: a lie. (I'm sorry, I just had to use that once in my life! Wait, does that mean my life is complete now? THANK YOU INTERNET MEMES!) **

Now that they were no longer walking at Zero's pace, they were moving quickly. It only took them about ten minutes to reach the Britannian base. When they saw it, Ohgi and Tamaki's eyes went wide. Lelouch also showed surprise under his mask.

Diethard flipped on an ancient light switch on the wall. There was a large, computer-looking thing in one corner of this cave cul-de-sac. Dust and ice covered it completely. Drilled to the wall was a ripped and dirty Brittanian flag. And sure enough, there were a few old guns, too old to work, and several crates labeled _Dried_ _Rations_.

"I can't believe it," Ohgi gaped in awe.

Tamaki nodded. His eyes then fell on the crates. A huge smile grew across his face. "ALRIGHT! FOOD!" he cheered, pumping his fist in the air.

"But how are we supposed to get them open?" Tohdoh asked aloud.

The others sighed, forgetting that little detail. "Come ON, guys! At least try to do something!" Tamaki franticly cried. He ran over to one of the crates and tugged as hard as he could. Whimpering when he fell back trying, he looked up to Ohgi with puppy eyes.

Flinching while may or may not be trying to hide any sort of disgust, Ohgi hastily went over to try to help. It was futile, even when Diethard joined in as well. Tamaki growled something about the physically strongest one not being able to help because he was baby-sitting Zero.

Lelouch ignored that comment and spoke up quietly, "T-Tohdoh, I th-think it w-would be b-best if you w-were to p-put me d-down now."

Giving an impassive yes, Tohdoh set Zero down gently on the ground. The Japanese soldier then went to help get the box of food open.

Letting go again, Ohgi stepped away from the crate. "There has to be some way to open it," he said in annoyance. He had thought of using Diethard's lighter again, but knew how stupid of an idea that was. Of course, burnt food was better than no food, but…

Tamaki furiously beat down powerfully on the top of the crate. A huge **THUD** echoed around the whole cave. A dog-like yelp, followed by some swears, shot from Tamaki's mouth as he held his hand to inspect the damage. Even through his glove, he could tell it was bruised and bleeding. Possibly a bone fracture, too.

"TAMAKI!" Diethard yelled.

The said Black Knight faced him trembling, expecting to be rebuked harshly. To his great surprise, the other three were looking at him with indebted expressions. Confused and curious, Tamaki looked back at the crate. There was a small, visible hole where he had punched it.

He cheered as they all went back to work trying to get it open with much more success this time. Tamaki simply only used his other hand.

While those four went on with that, Lelouch was left to bathe in his own thoughts. His fever had gone down a little after he fell in the water. But it was back now, and it felt even higher than before.

Even while lying on the ground, not pushing himself in the least, his vision wasn't working right. Was the world supposed to be blurred and spinning? Well actually, he couldn't remember. What did the world look like again?

Suddenly, a flash of something made the world come into more focus. Lelouch had seen something. It was familiar. Very, very, familiar. He saw it again: a figure, sitting near him. Her outline was hazy, but Lelouch knew she was smiling.

"N-N…" He coughed harshly. "Nun…Nunnally!" he called dimly, reaching out to her with a trembling hand. "W-Wha…are…y'd-doin…h…here?" An excruciating headache hammered against his skull, but Lelouch didn't care. Not now that his sister was here.

The girl's mouth moved, but only a quiet murmur of a sound came.

_I love you, Brother._ At least, that's what he thought she said.

A cheer erupted from three of them as they finally managed to rip the top of the crate. Tamaki scooped up an armful in a flash and started shoving it all down his throat.

Diethard and Tohdoh were more subtle. The calmly picked up a piece and ate, despite how starving they must have been as well. The latter checked the packaging and confirmed the expiration date was in two months.

Ohgi grabbed a piece, but didn't start eating yet. He turned his head. "Hey, Zero, you must be hungry. Would you like…?"

"Guys," Ohgi whispered quietly. This was a sharp tone, mixed with fear. Just be hearing that tone the others knew to stop what they were doing. "I think…I think Zero is hallucinating."

A silence acted as a gasp. They should have known his fever was high enough. But the shock of hearing something like that about one of the most powerful men in the world was…

Zero was crawling and shivering fiercely towards an empty spot of ground. He was touching some invisible object. No not touching, Ohgi knew, he was _hugging it_. Zero was speaking something too. However it was almost inaudible. The only thing they heard was "N-n…nun…ly..."

Ohgi flashed back to a few hours ago. Zero was asleep. He had whispered the exact same name. Nunnally.

It was Diethard who ran over to him. "ZERO!" he yelled, grasping onto the terrorist's shoulders. He tried to shake him out of it, but Zero only leisurely looked towards him.

"Huh? Sch-schnizel?...H-How…d'y-you…get h-here?" Zero tried to escape Diethard with a pathetic effect.

Tamaki groaned. "Great. Now he's hallucinating who we are!"

Ohgi gritted his teeth. '_This can't be happening!' _he thought. _'Normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but like this…he's completely vulnerable. If Britannians were to come right now, there's no way we could escape. This situation…is hopeless…"_


	8. Chapter 8: A Silent Discovery

**AN: Ahem, *insert long apology which involves selling my soul and handing out torches and pitchforks for you all to chase me down with*. So, happy summer/ winter for those in the Southern hemisphere! But now that it is summer, I shall give the lazy excuse that I will update more and try to avoid not doing anything for like, uh, six months, heh heh hehhhhh…. **

**Yeah, so he we go. It's short. Yes, yes it is. I'd also really like any sort of constructive criticism. **

**Disclaimer: Okay, since I've done it for like every chapter, do I really need to keep saying I don't own Code Geass?**

Chapter Eight

At that moment, the computer-looking thing gave a large hum and started to glow. Flashing on the screen were various maps and sentences changing at rapid speed.

"Great, _now _what is it?" Diethard groaned, letting go of Zero.

"It still works," Ohgi stated, turning his attention from Zero for the moment. He calmly walked up to it and gently slid his gloved fingers across the various buttons.

"Do you think this is some kind of alarm we've set off?" Tohdoh inquired, joining Ohgi.

The latter shrugged. "No idea. But if I could just figure out how to use it…" He narrowed his eyes in concentration. Then, gulping, he pressed a random button. A bright box appeared in the middle of the screen.

**DO YOU WANT TO INTERUPPT SCHEDULED REBOOTING?**

Thinking for a second, Ohgi pressed **ENTER**. The random visuals stopped, instead showing what looked to be a collection of files. Most of them were labeled with random numbers and letters, so it was impossible to tell what the content was. However, there was one that stuck out to him in particular…

"What's the matter?" asked Tohdoh with a slight curious tone, noting the sudden stiffness of his comrade. "What did you…?"

"Come on, guys! Let us see too!" Tamaki was desperately trying to read whatever was on the screen. But the two men blocking it wouldn't move. "PLEASE!"

"Tamaki, SHUT UP!" Ohgi barked. His breaths were short, uneven, and furious.

Taking a defensive step back, Tamaki nodded and pretended to go attend to Zero. All the while he kept an ear turned towards the panicked bickering of the two men at the computer.

"We have to go, now!"

"We can't! This place has to be at least seven years old. There's no way-"

"You think they- **THEY**- would lose track of something as important as this?"

The arguing came to a sudden halt. All noise slowly faded away until the echoes engulfing them had stopped. Silence was only spared by the buzzing of the computer and lights.

After giving the thousandth sigh of the night (though more like early morning now), Ohgi sat in a corner of the cave, next to Zero. Eyebrows knit with frustration, he at last took a bite of the ration of food. Awful and dry. Perfect.

A shy grumbling of a stomach purred next to Ohgi. With a smile he realized it was from Zero, who was currently struggling with the feelings of hot and cold together. He knew this was a serious situation. Then again, Zero being so frail at the moment made Ohgi think of him being like a kid, maybe Kallen's age.

He looked down at his food and thought of offering it to him again. "Wait, wait, starve a fever, right?"

"I thought that wasn't true," Diethard joined in.

"I mean anyway, we still haven't really waited long enough to see if this stuff had any effect on us. We shouldn't give any of it to someone sick. The last thing we need is for him vomiting all over th-"

"Yeah, got it, right."

Glancing back at the computer screen, Ohgi knew what he had to do. This information was way too important for Zero not to see it. Though the fact that he was shivering and sweating through his suit at the same time might delay that for a few more hours.

"Let's play a game!"

"Tamaki, not now." No one was clearly in the mood, Ohgi thought. It also seemed Tamaki had gotten over the fact that no one would tell him what was on the computer.

"Aw, but Zero's stopped talking now, so that means he's asleep again. Let's try to guess what he's having a fever dream about!"

Tohdoh smirked. "Defeating Britannia, obviously."

"Don't tell me you're going along with this?"

Zero coughed. Ohgi looked at him, and surrendered to this stupid thing with a shrug. They just had to wait for Zero to sweat it out, or at least be conscious enough to be able to remember what he saw.

"Nah, beating those assholes isn't weird enough. It's probably somethin' crazy like being totally trapped in a cold dark deserted place with an ex-reporter guy, a really serious guy with eyebrows that defy nature's laws, a pussy ex-school teacher, and his best bud!"

"Tamaki, why do you **try** to be an idiot?"


	9. Chapter 9: Unspoken Words

**AN: I'm so so so so so so so so so sorryyyy! You guys deserve a way longer chapter than this. But I am absolutely positive (because my friend is threatening me) that I will update again in the next few days. **

**Disclaimer: I'm out of ideas. I don't own Code Geass.**

The next time Lelouch awoke, he felt considerably better than before. His head was pounding, yes, but it seems that his fever had gone down. He glanced around the room to find the four men gathered around the large computer, talking seriously. Lelouch sat up and said in a daze, "Ohgi? What's going on?"

They all turned around with wide eyes. "Zero!" Ohgi exclaimed, deeply relieved. At the same time Tamaki was laughing to himself.

"I always knew my bud would be alright!"

With a bit of a wobble, Lelouch stood up. He walked past his second-in-command and stared at the screen. The date read: _August 9, 2010_.

"This is…"

"We know." It was Tohdoh who spoke. "It's the day before the invasion. Keep looking."

Lelouch quickly scanned the page and narrowed his eyes. It was a good thing they found this. "Have you tried using this computer to reach the other Black Knights?" he asked.

Ohgi nodded. "It didn't seem to get through."

"I understand." Lelouch turned back to his subordinates. "Know that we've all read it, we need to destroy it."

The others looked taken aback and gave a collective, "What?!"

"Zero," Diethard began, "shouldn't we save this so we could show it to the others? That would make the most sense, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah," Ohgi agreed. "At least we could show it to Kallen."

Lelouch took a glance at all of them. "No. That's my order. This is too dangerous to leave alone now that it's been found. The Britannians could find it. They may have abandoned this idea before, but that doesn't mean they'll do it again. We can tell the others, including Kallen, a brief description, but we can't let anyone else find the original."

Ohgi was getting frustrated now. He gritted his teeth and said, "I really think-"

"If we don't get rid of this now all of Japan could be in danger! Do you understand that?"

"Y-Yes." That didn't mean he had to agree with it, though.

Lelouch, Zero, stroked the side of the computer with his gloved hand. It was cold, frozen even. It was remarkable it even still worked. "Why didn't you inform me of this sooner?"

They glanced at each other. "We thought we should wait to you felt better," Tamaki said. "And, uh, now you do, I guess."

With an angry sigh, Zero said, "It must be morning by now, we should be able to navigate the tundra. And Tohdoh?"

"Hm?"

"Do you still have your gun?"

"Yes, of course."

Zero brought an arm out from under his cape and held it out to Tohdoh, who hesitated. "You're going to destroy the computer, aren't you?" Zero didn't respond. With some resentment that seemed out of character for him, Tohdoh handed over the gun.

As soon as the weapon touched his hand Zero spun around and shot the computer in several places. It buzzed and sparked angrily.

Tamaki looked at it cautiously through squinted eyes. "It's…not going to blow up, right?"

"No." Zero lowered the gun and handed it back to Tohdoh. "Now let's move." Once he started to walk out of the base, the others began to follow. It was a long, quiet walk back through the cave. No one spoke. No one had anything to say even. Including Tamaki.

But the peace, unfortunately, could not last forever. "So, by the way Zero. What _did _you have a fever dream about? 'Cause it sure looked like you were having one."

Ohgi automatically thought to that name. The name Zero had repeated over and over. "Nunnaly," he whispered.

Zero stopped walking. "What was that?" His tone was sharp, in a way they had only heard him use very few times.

"Oh, n-nothing, Zero. I promise."

But Lelouch knew what he heard. If it was true, if Ohgi really knew, he had no choice but to Geass him.


	10. Chapter 10: Back Where We Started

**AN: See, I told ya I'd be back… eventually. You now have my permission to burn me at the stake. You probably don't believe me anymore, but it's my goal now to have a (short) chapter every couple of days. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own it. There. *is burned at the stake***

He still wasn't sure. Lelouch kept running it over in his head. It was necessary, but wouldn't it be better to save his Geass for Ohgi until later? No, no. It had to be done.

As he was thinking this, the five of them had made their way to the entrance of the cave. Light poured in softly from the outside, covering the ground. It was morning.

Lelouch had almost made up his mind when Diethard said, "Looks like the snow's stopped."

"It appears it has," Lelouch responded in his most Zero-like voice. He had to regain his status as a leader after that humiliating night. He was just happy C.C. wasn't there to witness it. He'd never live it down then. Oh god. He'd be buying pizza for the rest of his life.

"Come," he continued, "let's look for the others."

They nodded and together they left the cave.

It honestly wasn't much better out there. All they could see was white. Maybe a few faint outlines of something in the distance, but it was miles away. The snow had covered any tracks that may have been remaining from the night before.

Lelouch held back a sigh. He was struggling for an idea of what to do. Of course he couldn't tell them that. What to do… Come on! He was a genius! How could he not have an idea?

They wandered aimlessly for a few, what, hours? And wandering aimlessly just led to, well, wandering around aimlessly. They were originally looking for the meeting point, but that seemed to be getting them nowhere.

"Ahhh! It's freakn' cold out here!" Tamaki shouted. They were probably warmer inside the cave.

And then Lelouch smelled something wonderful. Smoke.

Civilization! Or at least a…tundra…fire? Either way, it would lead them somewhere. He was willing to run into the Britannian army at this point.

Looking around, he saw the smoke rising from somewhere in the distance. "Over there," he said simply. The others saw and started to walk in that direction.

As they got closer, Lelouch began to see what it was. Turns out, it was the factory, still smoking after all this time.

Tamaki sighed. "And…we're back where we started."

"At least we're not in that cave anymore. Being in that Britannian base made me uncomfortable," Diethard said, rubbing his arm.

They split up and looked around. There wasn't much left, really. Charred remains of wall lay here and there. Only a portion of the building was left standing. Lelouch's boots crunched on the torn up concrete. He suddenly remembered that he hadn't figured out why the explosion occurred in the first place.

Glancing around the remains, with a body here and there, he couldn't see any obvious evidence. Just when he was about to go find the others, he spotted an abandoned knightmare. It was laying on its front, with the cockpit smashed open. And on the back were the remnants of a bomb.

That wasn't the strange part though.

It was one of theirs.


	11. Chapter 11: Rescued

**AN: Hey hey, everybody. Guess who's baaaaack! Also, do you guys think it's confusing when I go back and forth between Zero and Lelouch? Because if it is I'll just pick one. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. **

"Ohgi!"

The Black Knights' second-in-command heard the call and ran to find Zero. The factory was pretty big, so it took him a few minutes. Once he found him, though, he instantly saw why he was there.

After a second's pause, Ohgi asked aloud, "Who do you think it was?"

Zero didn't answer right away. He turned towards Ohgi. "Before I say anything else, I'd like to say I trust you."

Ohgi didn't know why, but that made him feel relieved. Apparently a small part of him was scared that Zero suspected him. It made sense, though. If he was in Zero's position he probably wouldn't have trusted anybody. "Who had the opportunity to do it?"

Zero shook his head. "Everyone was reported for right before the raid. Whoever did this would have had to have done it before we even got here."

"Hey guys! What did you find?" Tamaki came running up to them. "Whoa, a knightmare. This one looks totally busted."

Looking back to Zero, Ohgi saw his leader to be thinking. "Tamaki," he said, "let's find Tohdoh and Diethard. It'll give Zero a chance to think."

"Think about what?" Tamaki asked as Ohgi led him away.

Lelouch was quietly grateful about not having any distractions. Who could've done it? There were plenty suspicious people in the Black Knights. Well technically, he was the most suspicious of them all. In fact he was surprised that the others hadn't turned on him yet. But luckily it looked like that was never going to happen.

In his mind, Lelouch went over the recruits they recently added. It was true what he told Ohgi. He trusted him. The others? Well, time would tell.

All of a sudden he heard the roar of a knightmare. Lelouch started in surprise and ran out of the factory. When he got there he was greeted with the other four men all staring at a familiar sight.

"There you guys are! We've been looking all over for you!" came the voice over the Guren's speakers.

"Kallen!" they all shouted, some in relief and other's just as a statement.

The cockpit opened and Kallen jumped out. She was in her warm uniform, but seemed to be shivering. She also looked mad.

"Where the hell did you guys go?"

They looked at each other. "We'll…tell you later," Diethard said.

"Anyway," said Zero, "We need you to take us to the meeting point."

When Kallen looked at Zero some of the anger left her face. "Okay, but…Will you guys all…fit?"

Right. That was a problem. The Guren wasn't designed for two people, let alone six. "We'll make it work," said Tohdoh gruffly with his arms folded.

"Noooooo! Not more awkwardness! I've had enough of that for like, ever!" Tamaki screamed at the sky.

Lelouch smirked. "Being a little uncomfortable for a while is better than freezing to death." They couldn't really argue with that.

"So, we gonna go or what?"

"Firstly," said Zero, "Ohgi, I need to talk with you privately."

"Oh, sure." He followed Zero back into the factory.

Once they were far enough away from the others, Lelouch turned to Ohgi and asked, very seriously, "What do you know about Nunnally?"

Ohgi gasped quietly. "N-Nothing. I-I just heard you say the name, that's all."

Lelouch was somewhat relieved. But still… "Ohgi." He opened part of his mask to reveal his Geass. "I order you to forget…" Oh no. Not again. He swayed in place, and suddenly felt like he was inside a volcano. But now that he thought about it, he probably shouldn't have pushed himself this much.

"Zero? Zero!"

And Lelouch fainted. Again. Great.


End file.
